Prospect Heights FPD Firefighters fund ranks 592nd for underfunding in Illinois, with 99.1% of benefits covered in 2024

In 2024, the Prospect Heights FPD Firefighters Pension Fund placed 592nd among Illinois’ least funded police and fire pension funds, based on data from the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI).

This fund, part of the City pension system structure in Illinois, reported total pension liabilities of $11,990,704, while its actuarial asset value reached $11,878,352.

This equated to a funding ratio of 99.1%, showing the fund was 0.9% below having enough actuarial assets to support the retirement benefits promised.

This discrepancy left the pension fund with about $112,352 in unfunded obligations.

The Illinois Department of Insurance collects data on and publishes information about local police and fire pensions—funds that rely on local taxpayer support in each municipality.

As of 2024, there were 300 fire and 363 police pension funds throughout Illinois. Certain municipalities operate both types, while others only administer one.

Some municipalities have no unfunded pension liabilities. In 2024, 64 municipalities were free of outstanding police or fire pension debt and were therefore omitted from the rankings.

Pension commitments for police and fire personnel, often called “pension benefits,” serve as deferred pay. Municipal governments pledge these benefits to public safety workers, but at times, sufficient funds are not secured from employees or taxpayers, which leads to increasing municipal pension debt and pushes the responsibility onto future residents. Municipalities sustain pension systems with yearly contributions, primarily funded by property taxes, as reflected in IDOI data.

Pension funds for police and fire across Illinois averaged a funding level of 65.1% in 2024, indicating consistent shortfalls across these local plans.

The lowest funding ratio statewide belonged to the Glencoe Firefighters Pension Fund, which was funded at just 0.9%.

Conversely, the highest funded pension system in Illinois was the Savoy Firefighters Pension Fund, holding a 797.7% funding ratio and an actuarial asset value of $149,803, surpassing its total liabilities.

Illinois’ overall pension debt increased by $1.5 billion in 2024 to reach $143.7 billion, as reported by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. This is the third consecutive year of growth and approaches the 20-year peak of $144.2 billion noted in 2020.

An analysis from the State Department of Insurance Public Pension Division found that suburban and downstate Illinois pension plans had $12.1 billion in combined unfunded actuarial liabilities in 2024, with an overall funding ratio of 49.18%. This shows these funds had less than half the assets needed to meet their benefit obligations.

In 2024, Illinois had the highest share of state GDP devoted to unfunded pension liabilities, nearly 20%, based on research by the Equable Institute.

The Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, says that this trend is creating an increasing financial burden on taxpayers. According to the group, annual taxpayer payments to state pension funds climbed from $614 million in the 1996 fiscal year to $11.2 billion by 2025.

Information for this article came from the Illinois Department of Insurance (IDOI). The original data is available here.